'nother bird image? Why not?

To begin...did y'all get outdoors in the last 24 hours? Why? you ask...well, I'll tellya---today [if you're visiting Saturday night]...if you're here on Sunday, yesterday--it was National Get Outdoors Day. We went and spent about 3 hours at Padre Island National Seashore about 30 miles from home. And it was beautiful. We went early enough that hardly a soul was out walking the shore...all but a few fishermen. Yet, I haven't had much time to get out and search for any interesting shadows this past week. So, I found one image that had such a great shadow in my birding folders that I thought I'd use it for today....

This Great Blue Heron was not afraid of Bud and me! In fact he followed us for quite a distance. Taken along the beach of Port Aransas, Texas.

CONNECTING TO:

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SUNDAY'S SUMMARY

For most of the week, it's just been too hot and muggy outdoors to do much of anything. We did go walking a few days tho. But not for long. After the sun gets fully in the sky, the humidity builds up and the horizon becomes hazy. That's why they call it hazy, lazy, days of Summer I guess. And it's not quite Summer yet. You wouldn't know it here tho. It's coming in with a vengeance. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the epiphyllum that finally bloomed after nearly a decade. Well, I've been keeping my eye on three other buds that sat on shortly after the night blossoms from a couple of weeks ago faded away. I forgot to set the alarm to go out at night this past Wednesday, but I did notice the one blossom still open from its night blooming when I opened the Venetian blinds for the day and rushed out to photograph it as it was beginning to close.[this blossom in the photo to the left is the top of the two buds] I then got sidetracked, even from blogging and visiting one day, this week. I received an email from a genealogical volunteer in Missouri this week sending me a photo [three photos actually] attachments of a headstone of one of my brother in law's descendants. And the write up from the cemetery records gave a most rewarding piece of info...including his wife's name. I then used that bit of info to do some more lengthy research and found HER parent's names. I can't ask him or my sister much 'cause I want this to be an unknown to them gift...I think he may be a bit surprised when I add all this to his side of the family for my Christmas gift book!!! I was told he didn't really get a chance to 'know' his father because he died before Al became a teenager. Bud and I did take some time out from searching for vital records to mow and edge the lawn in the back yard. We are now down to doing one yard a week instead of both on the same day. It's just too hot!! Having a lawn that is ankle deep is better than laying in the hospital from heat stroke.  While out doing the backyard work, I noticed all kinds of LARGE ants in both of the hummingbird feeders.  Quite a while ago, as I walked by the dining room windows, I noticed a golden fronted woodpecker  feeding from one of the feeders, and I'm sure that is where the ants came from....so, I had to dump the remaining sugar water out of both and scrub them out and refill them.  The ants....they were creepy huge...about the size of my pinkie's fingernail.  And the sink was loaded with them --- good thing they were already drowned!!!  Ewwww. Oh, and one more thing...I finished the book "World Without End". I am now hoping that in the near future, I am viewing this as a mini-series with my online connection!!! A most wonderful read. The female main character has such a strong influence throughout the book's entire 930 pages!!!! I love strong female characters. It gives us gals hope that all's not so leaving us in the dark ages. Y'know? Yet, still today when I read about how women are not paid equally for the same job a man works, it just irks me. LOL Anyway, back to the book. The sequel to Pillars of the Earth, this one, as I stated before in another blog post is far more appealing to me than the first book. As with Pillars of the Earth, it centers around a village in Old England...Kingsbridge. And the priory, and the builders and commoners of the medieval period. From love stories and family, to corruption in politicking, to nunneries and hidden secrets of royalty...all woven into one very intriguing, much to keep me wanting to read late into the night; turning pages to find out what will happen next!! I highly recommend this one!! You really don't even have to read the first book, the second one is a great story all on its own. I am now within reading a few chapters of my 'new' novel of choice...about New England and the era of witchcraft...but it all begins with a grandmother's home just outside a small New England town of Salem Massachusetts!! The book is entitled "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" written by Katherine Howe [which by the way, on the author inside flap of the book's dustcover, tells us readers she is a descendant of Elizabeth Howe ---one who did NOT survive the Salem Witch Trials of the late 1600s.] From what I've read of it so far, this is gonna be a thriller. Ever since Bud and I replaced the kitchen floor tiles, I've been wanting to redo the master bedroom bath tiles. The bathroom had the same tiles we tore out of the kitchen....and a whole box of leftover tiles...so, Bud and I started doing that and finished within a day's time. Easy peasy job 'cause it is a small room. And to end my summary for the week, as you see above with the two flower buds, there was a third one, on the opposite side of the flower pot...again, I forgot to get up at night to see the full beauty of it, but after the sprinkler system shut off in the back I walked out and got the last of the blossoms with water droplets on the petals. Busy week, a lot got done that we've been wanting to get done. The two of us went to a park within the city one day...very wooded, and I was hoping to see some bird activity. Saw a Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal, lots of Grackles, a few doves and sparrows...along with one of the above mentioned woodpeckers. The only photos they allowed were a few photos before they all scurried from one tree to the next. I got some more great shadow photos within the park, so I can almost guarantee that that is what I'll have for next week's shadows........